Abstract

The use of a spectrometer incorporating a two dimensional charge coupled device (CCD) detector and fibre optic probes for the acquisition of liquid-phase chemiluminescence spectra is investigated. CCDs offer several advantages over conventional chemiluminescence detectors, including rapid spectral acquisition, high spectral resolution (for wavelength discrimination and mathematical deconvolution), and the ability to simultaneously monitor several chemiluminescence reactions using different areas of the CCD grid. The CCD spectrometer was characterised using peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence from a static source, covering the blue (λ(max) ~450 nm) to orange (λ(max) ~600 nm) visible wavelength range. Instrumental parameters optimised were vertical and horizontal binning and integration time. In addition, the CCD was used with a continuous flow manifold to study the spectral characteristics of the cobalt(II) and iron(II) catalysed luminol reaction. The continuous flow system was also used for quantitative purposes and a linear dynamic range of 50-700 μg l-1 for cobalt(II) and 150-600 μg l-1 for iron(II) was achieved.